BUNGLING surgeon Steven Walker, who was struck off after botching a string of operations, used to work at Crewe's Leighton Hospital.

The Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust, which runs Leighton, has stressed there are no complaints about operations he carried out there and has told former patients there is no cause for concern.

Walker, 45, left four women dead and another six maimed in an over-ambitious attempt to boost his career.

He has now been banned from practising after a General Medical Council hearing found him guilty of serious incompetency.

The GMC heard how he botched operations on 10 patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital between April 1995 and December 1998.

These included a liver operation, four bowel surgeries and five breast reconstructions.

Complaints from medical staff about his approach began almost from the day he was appointed.

He was stopped from performing specific liver, breast and keyhole operations on different occasions because of these concerns.

Leighton Hospital spokesman Ian Lewsey said people he operated on while working in Crewe should not be alarmed.

He said: 'We have looked into this and, in fact, he only worked for the hospital from between July 1989 and September 1990. We have checked our records and there are no recorded incidents against him.

'While he would have been performed surgery, he was a registrar, doing training at many of the region's hospitals, and will have been supervised at all times. He will have never been in a position to make decisions for himself.'

Walker also spent a spell in training at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Rebecca Poulet QC, for the GMC, said Walker had shown a lack of judgment and competence and often chose the wrong operation for the patient.

She added: 'His conduct shows a readiness to carry out procedures for which he would appear to have very little or no appropriate experience in the absence of any specialist colleagues.'

Police are to now decide whether to take action after a coroner's investigation into Walker's operations on the four women who later died.